RASHID Subjee remembers being a child among 300 Indian families that were dumped at the then disused Lenasia army barracks after being forcibly removed from Sophiatown in 1957.

"We lived in huts, tents, shacks . but still strove to live our lives to the fullest amid all the sadness of being dropped in the middle of nowhere." Subjee said.

He was speaking yesterday at a house which was once the home of Dr AB Xuma, a prominent Sophiatown resident and ANC president, at an event to commemorate the forced removals of 65000 people, which started on February 9 1955.

The Nationalist Party government renamed the area Triomf, Afrikaans for triumph.

Also, those without permission to live in Johannesburg were sent to the apartheid government-created Bantustans in rural areas.

Maria Marite and Peter and Esther Maboe said they all fondly remember playing house and emulating adults with foodstuffs stolen from a local store.

"I also remember being whipped by Odin Cinema usher Peggy "Bel-Air" Senne before he became a top shebeen owner in Soweto, even when I had not made a noise," said Marite.

For the Maboes, watching their parents hide from the policemen looking for contraband alcohol was fascinating.

Peter said: "I used to marvel at the craftiness of the shebeen queens, who used to hide the sorghum beer in holes dug into the ground."

Said Esther: "We used to clean at the homes of people, including Father Trevor Huddleston, who later used to take us to the local cinema and gave us swimming lessons."

Yesterday's event is part of a series of commemorative activities at the Trevor Huddleston Memorial Centre, marking 60 years since the forced removals.

victorm@sowetan.co.za

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